Emergent Future Weekly: Self-Driving Ubers, The Future of Tech, Merged Reality, and More

Matt Kiser

2 years ago

Issue 21
This week we look at Uber’s self-driving cars launching in Pittsburgh this month, and how Ford and BMW are keeping pace. We take a look at Intel’s “merged reality” headset. And, recap Chris Dixon’s 11 transformative technologies, along with news from the past week that should restore your faith in humanity.

Plus, we compile our top projects to try at home, and favorite articles from the past week.

As well as what it means to have the entire world outfitted with super computers in their pocket, how blockchain technologies are an innovative new protocol, the creation a new space age, and what technology means to education, healthcare, and our ability to create healthy, sustainable food alternatives.

What We’re Reading 📚

How Alexa learns about you. How do services like Amazon’s Alexa understand your voice? Appliance Science looks at the role of machine learning and natural language processing in your voice-controlled future. (CNET)

How an Algorithm Learned to Identify Depressed Individuals by Studying Their Instagram Photos. Your mental health is reflected in the images you choose to post on social media, say researchers who have trained a machine to spot depression on Instagram. (MIT Technology Review)

The Art of Forecasting in the Age of Artificial Intelligence. The human/artificial intelligence (AI) relationship is just heating up. So when is AI better at predicting outcomes, and when are humans? What happens when you combine forces? And more broadly, what role will human judgment play as machines continue to evolve? (Deloitte University Press)

If the age of self-driving cars is upon us, what’s keeping them off the roads? As Google and Uber trial prototypes, the future of fully driverless cars and safer roads should come sooner than anyone thought – but they’re in no mood to rush (Guardian)

The post-post world: deliveries in the age of drones. For hundreds of years our things have been delivered by people: people on foot, people on bikes, people in vans. But tech promises to change all of that, and to many observers the future of post looks distinctly non-human. (Techradar)

How Machine Learning Will Change What You Eat. Smarter technology could make farms more efficient and food tastier, though environmentalists argue none of it is guilt-free. (Fast Company)